Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to electronic amusement devices and systems. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention are directed to a system for remotely interacting with an amusement device using a portable device and using the interactivity data to improve the accuracy of amusement device location information.
Amusement devices having electronic games for computers and touchscreens or other types of amusement devices are generally well known in the art. Amusement devices, such as game machines, which allow a user to select games from a video display are well known in the art, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,787 (“Itkis”), U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,717 (“Houriet, Jr., et al.”), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,799 (“Houriet, Jr., et al.”), whose disclosure is incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, and show a touchscreen for making a game selection from a menu of games. Such game machines or amusement devices typically operate upon input of currency (e.g., coin, token, paper money, credit/debit cards or the like) and are installed in venues such as bars, restaurants, airports, shopping malls, video arcades, casinos, or the like. Each amusement device usually includes a plurality of content choices, including electronic games, animations, videos and audio files. The game choices may include card games, sports games, games of skill, games of chance, action games, trivia games, or the like.
Often, it is preferable to allow players to interact with an amusement device deployed at a venue remotely. For example, where a patron would like to request a song to be played by the amusement device, it is preferable to allow the user to request the song without occupying the machine so that it remains available to be used by other venue patrons. Portable devices having wireless communications interfaces, such as smart phones, may be used for this type of remote interaction. However, in order for the user to interact with a specific amusement device remotely, the amusement device must be located so that commands may be sent between the portable device and, indirectly, the desired amusement device. Previously, the only available information about amusement device locations was compiled when the amusement devices were deployed or serviced. This resulted in the location information being out of date and often inaccurate.
It is therefore desirable to allow users to interact with proximately located amusement devices. It is further desirable to improve the accuracy of amusement device location information based on interactivity data.